I have done this on the PC case before to reduce the airflow noise coming from the fan. I want to get a 300W Seasonic, but I despise those stamped grills. Is this a wise choice to cut this out, and do I have to remove all the guts from the PSU first?

It should be no problem cutting out the stamped fan grill. You shouldn't have to remove the PSU guts but you'll have to carefully protect them.

Here's how I would do it:

-get a large size plastic food bag
-cut it open on 2 adjacent sides so that you have one sheet of plastic
-open the psu cover
-take one edge of the plastic and align it with the edge where the back of the psu meets the bottom of the psu ON THE INSIDE, under the fan grill
-drape the plastic sheet up and over the components
-using tape, seal the edge of the plastic where it meets the psu on the bottom

The plastic will catch the metal shavings that result from cutting out the stamped grill. Don't remove the plastic until you are totally finished cutting and finishing the hole. When you're done, carefully gather any shavings and dispose of them, and then remove the plastic.

A really cheap and easy way to quiet these stamped metal grills and also get more air flow is to simply bend the arc sections with a pair of needle nose pliers out to 90 degrees away from the back of the PS case. This presents only the thickness of the metal to the air flow and it reduces the Ashkenazy effect (when obstructions are close to the fan blades). And almost no chance to get metal bits into the PS!

I've done this before, several times in fact. First I unscrew the cover, and then I unscrew the fan (you might need to unscrew the PS PCB in order to pull the fan out of the way). I then cover the electronics with plastic wrap. I use the much-maligned "Nibbler" tool to remove the grill; most of the nibbled bits fall outside of the PS case, and for the rest I give it a good suck with the vacuum. Reassemble and you're good to go.

Normally, I don't even replace the grill with a wire one. I also usually replace the stock PS fan with an L1A.

i also cut the grill from my seasonic ps, but i didnt remove the guts at all... same as mudboy i used a nibbler... the nibbler cuts small rectangle and always falls downward... no chance of shaving to staying in the ps...

Sure you can just bend 'em a few times to break them off, but that leaves sharp and nasty looking twisted bits metal... I like the idea of having some sort of a finger guard in front of any fan, and while the wire grill is more elegant, it also takes a lot more effort and I'm not sure it would be noticably quieter than just bending the arc section outward. The parts that you can't bend (that connect radially from the center to the edge) still cause some noise and drag, I'm sure, but it is pretty minimal.

Thanks guys for all the responses. I just got a 37k Dremel for Christmas (my wife loves me) and I am itching to spin it up on something. Still the metal stuff scares the crap out of me in the PSU area. I will try tin snips and if it doesnt make it look nice enough, I will dremel it

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